Don't neglect your grip hand!
Sounds like you are going in with a positive attitude but I will repeat a very common statement, you are all playing on the same field, don't let it get to you. I decided I liked tough conditions in all forms of competition a long time ago. Some people talk themselves out of being able to win because of the conditions and that is that many fewer I have to beat.
I have played in places in the swamp almost as bad, no AC and huge fans sucking in the swamp air onto the tables. Some of the cloth was loose enough to pick it up almost a foot and you had to smooth the wrinkles out of it.
If the house cues can be made usable with sandpaper and a tip tool that is what I would do. Does sound like you would be abusing your stick. Bring a handful of rags or thick paper towels and some alcohol, preferably 90 or 99%. Clean whatever shaft you are using often and your hand. Burnish the cue shaft with a piece of leather or even paper.
The cloth sounds like dirt, the rails are probably dead, and the pockets may spit balls. Watch out for bugs on the table too, you may spend more time picking things off of the table than Johnny Archer!(be careful what you grab) Under these conditions you never hit a rail you don't have to and you simplify your game. The balls probably want to clump so you will be playing more safeties. In these conditions it is often the player that thinks the best that wins. Don't try to force things.
Hu
gobrian77:
Hu's (ShootingArt's) advice is as good as you can get, in one single well-written reply. And, the replies you've received thus far concerning bringing lots of towels, picking up a couple gloves, keeping your bridge hand as dry and untacky as possible, using anhydrous alcohol (that is, alcohol with no water content -- 100%) to absorb and evaporate the humidity from your shaft, etc. are all EXCELLENT suggestions.
The only thing I'd like to add, and is often overlooked in these kind of conditions, is your grip hand. Tackiness in your grip hand, in the wrong place (i.e. creating a sticking contact point on the cue where there shouldn't be one), can divert your cue delivery oh-so-slightly-enough that you miss shots, and you find yourself bewildered why you missed. I have some recommendations for your grip hand, based on personal experience:
1. Keep your grip hand dry! If you have access to those "moist towelettes" in the single-size tear-open packages, bring a box of these with you. These are great for cleaning your hands, and with the slight alcohol and hand-soap content, they also help disperse skin oils and sweat that accumulate. If you have a wrapless cue, also use this towelette on the butt, focusing on the areas where your grip hand is likely to be located (including the butt cap area if you have to stretch for shots). However, *DON'T* use this towelette on your shaft -- the solution used to soak the towelette has water in it, and with the already damp conditions that are hampering proper movement of the shaft through your bridge hand, the water in this solution will exacerbate the stickiness problem.
2. Earl Strickland uses (or used to use) a batter's glove on his grip hand, because in an interview he always had a problem with a sweaty grip hand. You might want to try one of these, if available.
3. If you don't have access to a batter's glove, and you have a wrapless cue, a little powder on your grip hand in very select areas (e.g. areas that have to "pivot" as your hand changes angle through your stroke) should do nicely to prevent sticking / the cue "hanging up" (and thus diverting) during delivery. The powder won't hurt your wrapless cue.
4. If you don't have access to a batter's glove, and you have a wrapped cue, obviously powder on the grip hand is not a good idea. Instead, you might want to try spreading your fingers ever so slightly in your grip, so the fingers aren't touching and rubbing against each other during your stroke. If the inside surfaces of your fingers are tacky, they will stick together and cause that area of your grip hand to "hang up" during your stroke, possibly causing the cue to divert during delivery.
That's about it off the top of my head, based on personal experience I'm sharing with you. (In my U.S. Navy days, I've played pool in some *really* hot and humid tropical areas -- e.g. outdoor pool rooms -- and I've used any or all of the above to help adapt to these conditions.)
I hope this is helpful!
-Sean
). The night I visited the bar it was hard enough to play with the normal humidity around here, but even that night was so bad it felt like my bridge hand was covered in glue- a smooth stroke was almost impossible- if it rains during the tourney, it's possible that the wind will cause droplets of rain to hit the table even with plastic sheeting being used to keep it out (which will only further increase the humidity).
